The Rays

…Hal Miller joins The Rays after 40 years of retirement to sing “Silhouettes.”

DEAR JERRY: Who were members of the Rays, the vocal group who did “Silhouettes”?

What other songs did they make?

—Karen from Glendale, Calif.

DEAR KAREN: Since a fellow Californian, Aana Pregliasco, of San Jose, asks almost exactly the same question, let's answer two for the price of one.

The featured vocalist you hear on “Silhouettes” is Harold “Hal” Miller. Other members of the Rays are Walter Ford, David (or Davey) Jones, and Harry James.

“Silhouettes” (Cameo 117), issued in late 1957, reached No. 1 on countless regional surveys, but stalled at No. 3 on Billboard.

Though not generally regarded a 1950s classic equal to “Silhouettes,” the flip side, “Daddy Cool,” got a tremendous amount of air play and charted right along with “Silhouettes.”

Neither of the follow-up Cameo singles landed at any position on any of the charts. They are “Triangle” (Cameo 128) a “Silhouettes” knock-off, and a smooth version of “Rags to Riches” (Cameo 133).

The Rays never had another hit in the '50s, though they did manage a pair of minor “moon” hits in the early '60s: “Mediterranean Moon” (XYZ 605) and “Magic Moon (Clair De Lune)” (XYZ 607).